Greenpeace activists stop oil drilling for second time in one week

Just before being arrested today, Greenpeace oil campaigner Ben Ayliffe radioed the nearby Greenpeace ship Esperanza from the oil rig he and 17 activists had boarded:

“We have met with the drill manager and requested a copy of the oil spill plan, which we assume he has on board, yet once again we have been refused even sight of it. What is Cairn Energy trying to hide? We have phoned, written, faxed, emailed and now even paid a visit to the rig to get a plan that should be in the public domain and should be subject to independent verification and public scrutiny."

It’s a reasonable request but one that Cairn clearly seems unwilling or unable to comply with. Perhaps that’s because their plan, if they have one, is insufficient.

The reality is that even if it does exist there is no way a BP-style deep sea blow out could be cleaned up in this remote and fragile environment. There is no way such a plan could provide assurances that the environment and Greenland’s fishing industry would not be decimated.

One of the last to be removed from the rig by police was Andreas Bergstrom. He and three others locked themselves in crane cabs to remain on the rig as long as possible.

Andreas is an Arctic guide who lives in Svalbard and for him the campaign to stop oil drilling in the Arctic is personal. He knows better than most what there is to lose in the event of an accident.

While locked into the crane he was also in radio contact with the Esperanza and had this to say:

“We scaled this rig to demand the oil spill response plan but they’ve refused to even tell us if they have one. Cairn Energy are simply unable to tell the world how they’d deal with a BP-style Arctic spill, so we’re going to stay here and stop them drilling for as long as we can. While I’m in this crane cabin this beautiful fragile environment is safe from this deep water oil rig. The only guarantee of safety is for the drills to be shut down permanently.”

Together the 18 activists stopped drilling for 8 hours today which, along with Luke and Hannah’s efforts earlier in the week, is a great effort - but drilling needs to stop altogether here in the Arctic. Our week of action has, as well as stopping the drilling for a time, brought the issue into stark focus on the international stage.

So back on the Esperanza and the Arctic Sunrise we are extremely proud of our friends and crewmates. They’ve risked their freedom to make a stand for the Arctic and that’s no small thing.

That’s the end for today - but it’s not over by a long shot.

This is too important for us to let the reckless greed of oil companies ride roughshod over common sense.

As the global temperature climbs and the ice melts, we should not be using that as an opportunity to press ever further towards the ends of the earth in search of every last drop of oil. Instead we should focus our efforts on developing clean renewable energy and fuel efficiency. We must ease our addiction to oil before it’s too late.

Cairn is now seeking an injunction against Greenpeace claiming that the pod protest hindered operations. Cairn argues that every day the rig is prevented from drilling costs the company up to US$4 million. If granted, the injunction would mean Greenpeace would have to pay 2 million Euros in fines for every subsequent breach and every day we stop the Leiv Eiriksson operating. The case will be heard in a Dutch court on Monday.

thanks to greenpeace that they make us involved in the subjects and get us closer to such kind of issues! I wish I had the chance to be able to stop c...

thanks to greenpeace that they make us involved in the subjects and get us closer to such kind of issues! I wish I had the chance to be able to stop cruels like those activists.. for now, I will do my best via internet wishing to join the team... thanks to you that we are aware of the outer world rather than around us...

@ Andrew,
The question you ask about why the authorities in Greenland keep the oil spill plan confidential has been answered several times in p...

@ Andrew,
The question you ask about why the authorities in Greenland keep the oil spill plan confidential has been answered several times in press releases, interviews and again last night on Danish TV (Deadline on DR2) by the Greenlandic prime minister, Kuupik Kleist.

First off, it is not true that the plan is confidential. It is public, and you can download it from nanoq.gl, the official government website.

However what is confidential are the parts that in details describe the course of action should people with illegal intend, such as yourself, try to intervene, and the exact whereabouts of the oil spill equipment. Claiming that you wish to see it to "review it by independent party", could be seen as a mere smoke screen. Just as last year the plan has been reviewed by the Danish National Environmental Research Institute, NERI. A independent research institute under the university of Aarhus. It has been reviewed by the Norwegian petroleum and environmental authorities, it has been reviewed by the Canadian National Energy Board, the Canadian coast guard and the Danish navy, police and fire authorities. All these parties must by all standards be considered independent from both the government of Greenland and Cairn Energy. And all of these parties have okay'ed the plan. So the argument cannot be an "independent review". This has already happened, even by many more foreign authorities and institutions than any other country in the world has done with their contingency plans.

I agree with you that the plans and daily doings of the government should be open to the public, as this is very important for the democratic control of government. However I also accept that parts of what goes on within the ranks of the government must be kept confidential. I am sure you must agree that any government in the world have the need to be able to keep certain information confidential, at least for a period of time. I.e. I am glad that the access codes and instructions for the U.S. nuclear missiles are kept confidential, even though it means that cannot check and see for myself that the procedures are as safe as can be. Just as you need to keep your plans for intervention secret from the authorities for them to work.

So you ask why the parts of the plan are confidential? Well, it seems to be obvious: To prevent the misuse of the information by criminal organizations, however peaceful they may be. Greenpeace has already demonstrated the will to use illegal methods to try and prevent the drillings several times. An occupation of the facilities that stores the equipment to be used in case of a spill, would effectively stop the drillings, as constant access is a requirement of the drilling permit.

So I would ask the other way: Why should the government of Greenland trust that Greenpeace, or any other criminal organization for that matter, will refrain from illegal activities and not once again take the law into your own hands, and try to occupy the stocks to prevent the drillings?

Those that defend the lack of plan and the "right" to drill regardless of consequences should come on over to the Louisiana Gulf Coast for t...

Those that defend the lack of plan and the "right" to drill regardless of consequences should come on over to the Louisiana Gulf Coast for their next vacation...Let your kids swim in the sludge, and dine on all the polluted sea life...